Post-practice quotes

Sorry. I’ve been experimenting with putting audio up on the blog the way Sam and Jane used to do it, but ran into a little snag. So hope to get it worked out by Saturday’s game on Long Island … or by the home opener.

Anyway, back to transcribing the old way. Here are some of today’s quotes (Tortorella to follow):

Brad Richards:

On the power play practice:

“We’re trying to get a good foundation, a basis, so we can build on it. That’s what you’re doing out there today.”

“It just feels like we’re back in the normal flow. It’s a little different type of week for the regular season but we’re getting back to work. We watched a little video today, and getting ready for the Islanders. It feels like the regular season now. We’ve got another game coming up and another road trip, and everything’s just going to start flowing normally.”

“We were able to handle it. I’m sure we’ll grow a lot from it, and we got a lot of good time together. Your teammates, after a long summer, not seeing them, especially for me (being new), being around them so much, around the staff, seeing them quite a bit, we’ll all come together a lot quicker, a lot closer, because of it. There’s goods and bads. It is what it is. We got two points out of four, and we could have gotten two points out of four in our own building. You never know. So we’re moved past that. We’re looking forward now.”

On playing with Gaborik:

“I think it helps (to stay together). Ideally you’re winning and you keep your line together when it’s flowing. But over 82 games it doesn’t always happen. It just so happened the first couple of games, we’re not clicking and we have some different looks. I’ve done a lot of that over the years. That’s the type of coach he is, and I’ve played for other coaches who do the same. You can’t have no goals and five, six chances in a game and not try to change something up. That’s just how it is.”

Ryan McDonagh:

“It’s good to work on our team structure a little bit more so we can really get down to the details a little more and start to focus on that so it just becomes natural and we just play.”

“I’ve always looked at every game like I’m just going to try my best whenever they call my name. I’m just going to go out and play my hardest. Obviously I knew when they paired me with Danny that we were going to go against their top line so you have to be a little more focused and pay attention to where you are on the ice positionally and try and not give the forwards a lot of space to create. So in that sense, playing with Danny’s been great. Looking forward to the next game, for sure.”

“It’s awesome. Every team I’ve played with I’ve done my best to help the team win. If that means playing more, that’s awesome.”

“(Girardi) is a pretty simple player out there. He’s very vocal and always sound positionally. He’s always got his head up. He always knows what he’s going ot do with the puck as soon as he gets it. So working with him is awesome. He’s always helping me out, letting me know if I’ve got time, or if I’ve got a guy on me. Hopefully we can continue to work and get better and help this team win.”

Henrik Lundqvist:

“It was a lot of fun, but it was also very intense, active. I have a lot of great memories. I thought it was an unbelievable trip for me personally, and also it was fun. It’s good to be back, to get these couple of days here, good practice, slow down here a little bit and get ready for the Islanders and then a big road trip again.”

“We get more practice time. We didn’t have much practice in Europe — a lot of games, travel — so to get back here and be able to focus on practice is important for us to improve. I think everybody had a great time, but I also think guys are happy to be back, back to their routines and the preparation.”

“It was pretty intense in a lot of ways, so emotional, and physically, it was a challenging trip. It was a fun trip. But this week, I feel great about being back and getting a couple of days of practice as well as some days off to take everything in and get ready for the next couple of weeks here.”

On the changeup in the shootout:

“Yeah, what can I say? I felt like I had it. I felt it was going there, glove side, I locked my leg and glove and as soon as he missed it, I could just feel like I was in trouble and there was no way I could go back with my leg.”

15 Comments

After waching both games, my quich, short impression:
Islandorks looked very fast in transition. Usual suspects – Tavares and Moulson in a surprisingly good shape. Could spell a problem comes Saturday.
Debbies picked, where they left at the end of season + Parise. Don’t expect miracle – it is different team than was at the beginning of last. Hopefully will have a problem in a goal – both Marty and Hedberg doesn’t look great.